


the sea's embrace

by shadowfell



Series: the sea's embrace [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Multi, likely not to be continued but if it is expect more tags + a ratings change, polynein but im not gonna put that in relationship tags
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:01:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28847226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowfell/pseuds/shadowfell
Summary: It says less about the current situation and more about the life he has led that this is not the worst decision Caleb has ever made. It isn't even in the top five, although, it might be in the top ten.Or, Caleb answers a craiglist ad looking for a shady wizard, and ends up involved in the shenanigans of one Jester Lavorre's hotel.
Series: the sea's embrace [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2115339
Comments: 8
Kudos: 30





	the sea's embrace

!!! Good Job For High Level Wizard Contact ASAP Please !!!

Looking for a high level wizard to do miscellaneous enchanting work for my business! Good pay, room and board, minimum employment of a year! If you can cast 5th level spells please contact me as soon as possible!!!

J.

* * *

It says less about the current situation and more about the life he has led that this is not the worst decision Caleb has ever made. It isn't even in the top five, although, it might be in the top ten. Jobs off of Craigslist are dubious at best, and when they're enchanting jobs, well, that is only asking for trouble. 

His messages with one J. Lavorre have done something to ease his worries. She is quite upfront with the crimes she is asking him to commit - minor fraud and permit violations - and her rambling style of speech means that either she has carefully crafted this persona or is being honest. It takes a great deal of will to fake that level of cheerfulness, and so probability at least seems to dictate that she is legitimate. 

The address of the establishment, the Sea's Embrace, is also located in the Trispires, which means that the business is either a very elaborate and successful front or is also as legitimate as it seems.

And they are a hotel offering him boarding, a very nice hotel at that, and that is worth more to him than the work. He does not want to be caught up in shady dealings by any means, but he wants even less to tell Nott - to tell Veth - that he still does not have a roof over his head. Because she will offer her own home and will not take no for an answer, and that is worse by far. 

And so: he agrees to meet with J. Lavorre to come to an arrangement, cleans himself up as best he can, prepares a great deal of spells meant to get him quickly out of trouble, if it should arise, and makes his way to the Sea's Embrace, keeping his pace up and his gaze focused so that no one in the district sees fit to bother him, or arrest him for loitering, or vagrancy, or anything of the sort.

Although he has seen it in pictures, the building is far more impressive at first sight. It is large, elegant thing, with columns and a carved stone mural that he swears has something ridiculously off about it even though it is not quite within his range of sight. Careful not to stare too long, he enters with as much certainty as he can manage, walking through the front foyer and straight to the main desk, grateful there is no line at present. 

"Hallo," he says, "I am-"

The receptionist, a very refined looking half-elf, takes one second to look him over quickly. "The Shelter is in the rear, if you would-" she starts to say, gesturing to one of the porters lingering about.

"I am here on business," he interrupts, but makes careful note of that. He is starting to think his brief research was not enough. "I was in contact with J. Lavorre about some enchantment work?"

The receptionist's eyes widen slightly. Caleb has to suppress a small laugh at that. No one takes him for a high level wizard, that is assured. She presses a finger gently to an elaborate earring. "Miss Lavorre, the Wizard is here," she says, and her head ticks as she waits for a response. "She'll be down in just a moment."

He steps away from the desk, and takes his time to look around the foyer. To the left, he can see large open doors that lead to a room filled with tables, chairs, and what appears to be a stage, what seems to be the main area of attention. The foyer does have a few benches, and plenty of plants, all with a tropical feel quite foreign to Zadash. The main focus, however, is the grand staircase, which is nearly as wide as the room itself.

The walls, especially along the edge of the staircase, are covered with murals that don't quite seem to match the elegant look of the establishment. Some are more abstract modern pieces, others what to be expected but with interesting subject matter. He swears that he sees one, further up, featuring miniature flying unicorns, and another is clearly a variation on the cover to a copper store smut novel. Tusk Love, he is fairly certain. 

Well, it is definitely not a place where he is expecting a direct attack, and it seems a shade too legitimate to be involved in trafficking, but it is difficult to say, with such crimes. The receptionist's reaction was interesting as well - she had initially assumed he was in the wrong place, as only to be expected, but was trying to direct him to The Shelter - he can't imagine what an establishment such as this would have to do with what he imagines is some form of homeless shelter, and the answer is either quite altruistic or quite sinister. 

A sudden burst of movement catches his attention, a quick blur of blue and pink, sliding down the railing of the stairs. At the end, it jumps off and lands with a twirl, solidifying from blur into a blue tiefling girl, wearing a dress that is clearly well made but far too cutesy to match with the decor, the fabric patterned in what looks like lollipops and other sweets. 

A hunch tells him that either this girl is the one who paints the murals, or at least the one who commissioned them. 

“Mr. Widogast!” She days, skipping up to him cheerfully. “I’m so glad you could come and help with this! I’m Jester, welcome to the Sea’s Embrace!”

“Hallo,” he says. “It is very nice to meet you.” He does his best to smile. This woman is his new employer, after all, and it is best to be polite. 

“So, let me show you where you’ll be working-“ she pauses, and looks him over. “You didn’t bring any stuff with you,” she points out. 

“I have all the supplies needed for this spell in my bag,” he assured her. “Aside from the ink which you said you would be providing?”

“No, no, I mean, your stuff, to move in,” she says. 

“Ah,” he replies. This is, frankly, most of what he owns, but is not sure that is the best thing to admit. “I was, er, waiting to be certain of the specifics of the job and the boarding provided before I made a final decision.”

Jester nods. “That makes sense,” she says. “Well, you’re going to be making a teleportation circle for travel between here and the Lavish Chateau, because it’s in Nicodranas and so is my mom and I’m not allowed there anymore and they kind of want me dead and my mom doesn’t like traveling so if we have a circle then I can go and no one will know and she can come here without having to go outside, you know?”

“Ja, I understand. As we discussed, I can be discreet,” he assures her. “And I appreciate you can be as well? I am not particularly liked by the mages guilds in the city.” A bit of an understatement, in that if they filed his face in paperwork it would alert Ikithon and the Assembly and probably end with him dead. 

“Yeah, discreet is basically my middle name,!” she says, which is blatantly false at a glance but he does not press her on this. “So, the biggest thing is the circle but technically you are being listed as just magical repair and so when you have time it would be nice for you to check on some of the magic we use,” she says. 

She leads him through the hallways and up even more stairs. “So, these are the main guest floors, and there aren’t a ton of enchantments that we’ll probably ask you to deal with here. I don’t even know what spells we have here. Do we have any?”

“The everglow lights,” he points out, as she continues on up the stairs. 

“Yeah, those. But those are pretty reliable so no big deal. Now, everything above here is for staff but I’ll add you to the lists and all of that, and this floor is the studios, they’re all magically soundproofed and I doubt those are going to break but there are these like magic cameras we use and those might need some touching up because they’re super finicky,”

“Studios?” He asks. “I am sorry, I have not really done my research: what exactly is your business?”

Jester stops in her tracks and tilts her head. “You haven’t heard of the Seas Embrace?” She asks. 

“No?”

“Or the Lavish Chateau?” He shakes his head again. “The Ruby of the Sea?”

“Perhaps, it sounds somewhat familiar?” He tells her. “I am sorry, I am from fairly far north in the Empire and I don’t pay as much attention to current events and culture as I ought to.”

“Well, so, the Lavish Chateau is a really fancy hotel in Nicodranas, but it is mostly known because it is run by my mom, the Ruby of the Sea, a really famous courtesan. The Sea’s Embrace is like an offshoot and I was put in charge after I had to leave Nicodranas although I leave a lot of the running it to other people.”

He nods, and tries to keep up. He is very much starting to doubt that ‘fancy hotel in the Trispires’ was the only information he needed to have coming into this. 

“We are a hotel mostly and there are a lot of people who work as courtesans but we also have the studios because I wanted to make a movie for Tusk Love and some of the other people here wanted a safe space to make films of their own and so we made one floor into studios. And we do a bunch of other stuff too, like a lot of classes and events and just like the Chateau we have a shelter like specifically for people trying to get out of shitty situations, you know?”

He nods. “That is very generous of you and your mother,” he says, trying very hard not to focus on the fact he’s been invited to live in a brothel.

“Thank you! Anyway so above the studios we have private rooms for employees and the security office which might need your help sometimes and this is where you’ll be staying. The room for the circle is at the end of the hall and it’s marked with the paper that says Teleportation Room and if you want it then this room will be yours.” She stops and opens a door, walking inside. 

It is not the nicest room he has been in, because he has been in the Palace, before. But it is close, and it is certainly the nicest room that he’s ever called his own. 

He can’t even call it a room. It is basically an apartment, with a living area with a kitchenette, a full bed and full bath. 

“This is-“ he says. “This is too much. Surely you can’t waste a room like this on me for a whole year-“

“Sure we can,” Jester says. “I’m the boss and this is super important. You’ll have to ask Beau what your pay is, pretty sure it’s ten gold.” Ten gold a week is more than fair for this work, given the pricing of these rooms, but he isn’t exactly going to talk her down. “We should go bother her!”

“Ah, are you sure?” He says. “I would not want to inconvenience her-“

“Nah, we totally should,” she assures him. “So, Beau is head of security and like my best friend other than the Traveller, and we were college roommates and she’s the best and you’ll -“ Jester trails off. “I mean, she’s just great, you know?”

He is dragged along after his new boss and he has stopped protesting and is just going along with things now. 

“Beau!” she calls out, bursting in to the security office. “Beau! Hey! Beau! Come meet the new guy!”

A young woman dressed in sweatpants and a tank top, both blue, looks up from where she lies leaned back in a chair, nominally looking at the screens showing various shots of the hotel. 

“Yeah, I’ve been watching you drag him around,” Beau says. “Pretty sure he’s too dirty to be working here, Jes,”

“He can clean up!” Jester says. “And you should probably clean up some because while I am fine with this whole look you are kind of stinky and also people are gonna complain and that’s soooooo annoying to deal with.”

“I can do that,” he says. He doesn’t like being clean but in a place like this it shouldn’t be too hard to stay out of sight. And as long as he doesn’t attract too much attention, Zadash is far away from Rexxentrum and very easy to be lost in. 

“Anyways, he’s the wizard,” Jester says. 

“Ah,” Beau says. “I’m Beau. I beat people up for a living.”

“Caleb Widogast,” he replies. 

Jester has turned her focus on to Caleb. “You know I wasn’t thinking about it before but you probably need better clothes. Do you have any?”

He does have some more clothes, gifts he hadn’t quite been able to refuse from Veth, but they are basically the same, if slightly less worn.

He is pretty sure the look on his face says everything. 

Jester looks serious for a moment, but then she’s back to grinning. “Well, then, we are going to have to take you shopping,” she says. “Don’t worry! This falls under work expenses so i can totally cover it.”

“You do not have to-“

“She’s super fucking rich dude,” Beau mutters. “Just let her pay for it.” She sits up, then, and looks at Jester. “Don’t you have work or shit you’re supposed to be doing?” 

“I am supposed to meet with Molly,” Jester says, “but- oh! I know! Molly can just come with, because he is great at shopping for clothes, and we can talk about what we need to throughout, you know?”

“It’s his first day here,” Beau groans, “don’t inflict Molly on him.”

“Ah, who is Molly?” Caleb asks, but then he is being dragged off again. 

“Molly is also my best friend,” Jester says, “and he is super fun. He works for a carnival and he also works for me sometimes and he’s amazing and funny and he does fortune telling and he’s a really good dancer and Beau just doesn’t like him because she’s Beau and she doesn’t like anyone but also I think because she’s kind of in love with Yasha who is Molly’s best friend and she’s jealous of how close they are but Molly thinks it’s just because it’s really fun to hate each other but I don’t really get that.” 

Jester at least knocks on this door. “Molly,” she calls out, “I am changing the meeting a bit because we need to go shopping!”

From inside, he hears shuffling. “Wonderful, Jes, but why do we need to go shopping? You don’t exactly-“

The door opens and suddenly Caleb is face to face with another tiefling. Purple skin that is covered with extensive tattoos, and a frankly excessive amount of jewelry hanging from his horns. He is wearing a fluttery robe with an extravagant paisley and peacock pattern over a crop top that says slut in sparkling letters and what is best termed booty shorts. 

“Huh. Hello there,” the tiefling says. “Mollymauk Tealeaf, at your service.”

“Caleb Widogast. I’m the. Uh. Wizard.” He does his best to match eye contact and the closest he gets is staring at the jewelry. 

“I see what you mean,” Molly says. “Lemme put on shoes.”

He returns wearing thigh high leather boots and Jester twirls, and pulls them both behind her as she races back towards the stairs. 

Both of them slide down the railings of the grand staircase at the front. They make it look almost elegant, somehow - still ridiculous and childish, but elegant to some degree. Caleb considers doing the same for precisely half a second before walking down the stairs. 

“Boo, boring,” Jester chides. 

“I am sure watching me fall down the stairs would be more exciting,” he tells her, “but I think I prefer this.”

“I’m gonna make you try it eventually,” Jester tells him. “It isn’t that hard.”

“I mean,” Molly says, “remember the first time you got Fjord to do it? And he just fell off the back?”

“Well that wasn’t even a problem because I am a super good healer and he was totally fine after a few seconds,” Jester says. 

“Oh?” Caleb’s ears perk up a bit. “You have magic as well?” Healing limits his options - he would guess that she was a bard, all things considered. 

“Yes! I am a cleric! And I am like the best cleric of any god ever and I am super powerful so if you ever need help with magic stuff then come to me!”

A cleric. And, while he’s not certain of exactly what strength, he assumes she’s above a base level. No mention of what god she worships. It may be nothing, but that is definitely something to keep notice of. Having your employer arrested for heretical worship rarely goes well. And, of course, it would be best to avoid that entire section of the government. 

“Where are we heading?” Molly asks, as he and Jester both begin walking down the street. “Obviously Mr. Caleb here is in need of a serious makeover.”

“Well,” she starts listing off stores he has never heard of, but by their names he is most certain are far too expensive for him to be allowed in much less afford anything. 

He is less than thrilled by the prospect of a dress code, much less with clothes of this level of fanciness. Fingers dig into his palms, enough to lessen the tension somewhat. He really hopes he doesn’t have a breakdown in the middle of this store. 

It feels like the opening premise to some sort of awkward situational comedy full of interpersonal drama. But, at the very least, it seems safe, and being stuck in the middle of these frankly ridiculous people’s shenanigans is far from the worst ending he can imagine, from this whole venture. 

A year and a day. And, by then, he will have connections and savings enough to last. Surely he can handle whatever antics this group can throw at him for that long.

**Author's Note:**

> so, frankly, i've been sitting on this intro for a /while/ and don't expect to actually write more for it, but since i am planning on writing more in the verse, I thought a little bit of context may be in order.


End file.
